


Trinkets and troubles

by yogini



Series: Living with a dragon [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Claudia Stilinski Memories, Claudia Stilinski's Background, Dragon Stiles Stilinski, Gen, Non-Human Claudia Stilinski, Past Character Death, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Sheriff Stilinski Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 11:37:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5126069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yogini/pseuds/yogini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Never use my abilities in public and never give anyone reason to believe that I am what I am because then bad men will come after me and do horrible stuff to me, blah, blah, blah.” Stiles rolled his eyes. “Dad, it’s been almost six years since I presented. If someone was hunting me they’d already showed up by now. Okay? Don’t worry, I’m safe.” <br/>"That’s what your mother thought as well.” Then he turned on his heel, slammed his bedroom door shut and left his son standing in the hallway in shock, mouth agape and eyes wide and disbelieving.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trinkets and troubles

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Teen Wolf or any of the characters in the series, I'm just borrowing them from their respective owners to play with a little and I promise to give them back when I'm done. No copyright infringement is intended and I don't make any money from writing fanfiction.

“Stop it, Stiles” Scott whispered agitatedly as he snatched away the silvery Christmas ornaments before Stiles had the chance to get his hands on them. “Stop taking things or your dad will send you away again. I don’t want my best friend to go away.”

“Damn it, Scott, not the puppy dog eyes” Stiles complained. There was no way that he’d be able to ignore his friend looking like a sad little puppy, and it wasn’t as if he was too keen on going away again either. Last time it happened was just after his first shift and it had been their first separation since they started going to the same kindergarten. It had been painful enough and Stiles had no intention of reliving that particular nightmare, for both their sakes. But he really couldn’t help himself with all the pretty, _shiny_ things that just kept on appearing around him.

“You know I don’t do it just to spite people“ he sighed, shoulders slumping as he turned and trudged out of the store, determined to not look at anything but the floor. ”Scott, you _know_ I don’t” he continued, almost pleading now. He leaned in close, lowered his voice so that no one but Scott would hear. “But I just can’t control it. And I just _like_ this stuff so much.”

“Like it all you want, just don’t pocket them” Scott said, aiming for partly teasing and partly comforting but not really succeeding.

“I’m trying to” was Stiles somewhat acerbic answer and Scott realized that he’d have to be a little more sympathetic than that.

“So, video games and pizza at my place?” he suggested and Stiles’ eyes brightened.

“And that’s why I love you, buddy.” And with the prospect of junk food and entertainment Stiles’ mind was sufficiently occupied and the risk of shiny trinkets falling into his pockets was averted but, sadly, it was only for the moment.

::

“Daaaaad” Stiles complained. “It was only a teeny tiny little one and she didn’t even realize it was gone until _you_ insisted on me returning it.” The older Stilinski fixed his son with a steely gaze, not at all amused by his flippant attitude and lack of respect for the situation at hand. This wasn’t about Stiles pocketing a trinket or two, this was about not letting the wrong people realize that his son was expressing clear hoarding tendencies.

“Stiles, we’ve been over this again and again” the Sheriff started to say. “It’s really important that you…”

“Never use my abilities in public and never give anyone reason to believe that I am what I am because then bad men will come after me and do horrible stuff to me, blah, blah, blah.” Stiles rolled his eyes. “Dad, it’s been almost six years since I presented. If someone was hunting me they’d already showed up by now. Okay? Don’t worry, I’m safe.” That sentence hit the Sheriff like a ton of bricks and he couldn’t quite hold back the venom in his voice when he answered, completely without thinking.

“That’s what your mother thought as well.” Then he turned on his heel, slammed his bedroom door shut and left his son standing in the hallway in shock, mouth agape and eyes wide and disbelieving.

 

His son was many things but a slow thinker wasn’t one of them. It was only minutes before his door shook in its frame from the incessant pounding.

“Dad, open the door, you can’t just say stuff like that and then just disappear, and if you’ve locked yourself in there to drink so help me god I’ll go get the…”

“Come in, Stiles” the Sheriff interrupted him as he yanked the door open. “Might as well get this over with” he muttered as he turned back towards his desk where he’d been sitting browsing through an old photo album, the one with all the pictures that he’d taken when Claudia was pregnant. He still remembered how she’d laughed at him every time he brought out the camera and then made any number of silly poses. But while he was pondering the past, his son was very much concentrated on their conversation in present time.

 

“How could you keep this from me? How could you not tell me that mom was a dragon like me too?” Stiles’ voice was strident and he paced around the room gesturing wildly. “You’ve always said that you guys got divorced and she moved back to Poland and now you’re saying someone killed her? Come on, dad, say something!”

“It’s hard to get a word in when you’re here, son” the Sheriff gently rebuked him as he put the album away. Stiles immediately stiffened, sat down on the bed and mimicked locking his lips and throwing away the key, then he raised his eyebrows and gestured impatiently for his father to start talking. Under happier circumstances the Sheriff would’ve laughed at his son’s antics but not today. Instead he took a deep breath and started telling his son the truth about Claudia Stilinski.

 

“Your mother was a dragon” he started off, as good a place as any, and ignored the way Stiles rolled his eyes in desperation. It might be stating the obvious but as long as he was the one telling the story and not Stiles he’d damn well start the story the way he wanted.

“She was… amazing” he reminisced, eyes soft and far away. “The first time I saw her shift, it was… It just left me speechless. She was breathtaking, and the kindest and the most loving woman that I’ve ever met.” The Sheriff’s eyes hardened. “And then someone found out what she was, where we lived. Tipped off some local hunters. They came one night and…” The Sheriff took a couple of deep breaths, tried to fight back the tears that threatened to fall.

“We were outnumbered. She told me to run, to save you. We had a place where we were supposed to meet afterwards but she never… she never came.” The Sheriff’s voice broke and before he knew it he was sobbing against his son’s shoulder and it took him a while to compose himself enough to finish the story.

“I never wanted to lie to you, son. But it hurt me so much to talk about her, I almost couldn’t admit it for myself that she was gone, let alone tell you. And I wanted to protect you from all that, the supernatural world, the hunters. For all I knew, you might be entirely human and…”

“But I’m not” Stiles cut in. “I’m not exactly happy that you didn’t tell me this, but I guess I can understand why, at least until I presented. But since? Why didn’t you tell me when you knew?”

“I didn’t want you to think about that, on top on learning to control your powers.”

“But later then?” Stiles insisted, anger rising quickly. “It’s been years dad!”

“I just couldn’t!” The Sheriff exclaimed, looking pained. ” Stiles, you have to understand, I was lost without her! I didn’t know what to do!” He looked briefly at the photograph at the night stand, taken just weeks before Claudia was killed. Seeing it every night before he went to bed was both a comfort and a torment. “Peter’s helped me, a lot” he continued. “Not just by babysitting you, but also because he kept reminding me that there were still things in life that was worth living for. That if he could get back on his feet after losing someone, then so could I. Gave me a kick in the ass to get up in the morning, to be a good father.But I still couldn’t talk about her.” Stiles still looked angrily at his father.

“Stiles, please tell me you understand this” the Sheriff pleaded. And Stiles did understand his dad’s motives but it was hard not to become angry when faced with the fact that he’d been lied to his entire life.

“I really want to, dad, but I’m just…” Stiles sighed frustratedly, clenching and unclenching his hands. He really felt like punching something. “I’m going to Scott’s, okay? Don’t wait up.” And with that he left the room without looking back at his father.

 

Before he started driving he shot a quick text message to Peter, asking the other man to come over. His father really shouldn’t be alone on a night like this but Stiles didn’t really trust himself not to say something he’d regret later if he stayed. It was better if they both cooled down separately before discussing this again.


End file.
